Solar Impulse Completes First Intercontinental Solar Flight 56
An anonymous reader writes "Slashdotters may remember the Solar Impulse — the world's first 100% solar-powered airplane — from last year when it made its public debut. Today the airplane made news again as it successfully completed the world's first solar-powered intercontinental flight — a pivotal step that paves the way for the plane's first trip around the world in 2014."
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From a continental bullshit-powered basement computer!
FTFY
Not really that spectacular... (Score:1)
Re:Not really that spectacular... (Score:5, Insightful)
515 miles isn't impressive for a solar powered flight? Maybe I am naive, but this seems like quite an accomplishment to me. Perhaps you would like to pull something out of your resume that is more impressive?
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The 515 miles is impressive. But compared to the size of a continent, it seems like they are bragging without merit. Kind of like how it would sounds if you heard that someone ran around the earth in 20 seconds (but they really ran around the south pole). Kind of like a less extreme example of this [xkcd.com].
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Yeah, in this part of the world, 515 miles sounds more like an interstate flight.
I have flown from one continent to another, and it 12 hours by 747 - over 6000 miles. (and up wind too)
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If it made it 500 miles I assume the problem was that the sun went down rather than any mechanical reason why it couldn't fly indefinitely.
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Solar Impulse has already flown continuously for more than 24 hours, to prove that it can fly through the night on battery power alone.
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Note: if you just click the FAI link, you won't see the results I'm referencing above. You have to select "DO - Open Class Gliders" in the "subclass" drop-down box, "Free Distance" in the "Type of Record" drop-down box and "World
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the distance IS impressive. their use of "intercontinental" to describe the distance is not. wouldn't even get across the lengths of some u.s. states.
the significance, i think, of the 515 miles, is that it is the distance between dayton and kitty hawk.
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That's still double the speed of Phileas Fogg
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Just use the phrase "High Altitude and Long Endurance(HALE) Platform", slap an optics module into the nose, and watch the spooks line up to wave cash in your face...
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I hear that in its next flight it's going to cross the Pacific, via the Bering Strait.
Yeah, this was over-hyped, but a solar-powered airplane is still pretty darn cool.
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A solar blimp or zeppelin would work better for that usage. That way all energy can go towards forward movement instead of also having to provide lift.
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That way all energy can go into fighting the wind.
Why did you post such a stupid comment?
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Why I thought the comment was stupid is that you wouldn't go against the wind in a blimp, you would use the trade winds to enhance it's efficiency. Kinda like the old sailing ships.
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from tfa
The plane, which requires 12,000 solar cells, embarked on its first flight in April 2010 and completed a 26-hour flight, a record flying time for a solar powered aircraft, three months later.
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Crossing Knik Arm outside of Anchorage (maybe two miles wide?) is uncomfortable enough. My former employer used to cross the Arm at 600 feet, until he had an airplane lose power on take-off from Anchorage International (which is on the shores of Knik Arm). He manage
At about 25 miles/hour (Score:4, Insightful)
piloted their Solar Impulse airplane over 515 miles to their destination in Rabat, Morocco... Furthermore, after almost 20 hours of flight
Perhaps not best for manned flight (Score:2)
Well, fine, I guess. The article says it took them 20 hours to fly 515 miles. That's about 25mph. So, with necessary rest, etc, around the world in 80 days, basically?
Nice (Score:5, Interesting)
The First Always Kinda Sucks, Give It A Break (Score:5, Insightful)
The first car sucked. The first bicycle sucked. It's a goddamn proof of concept, people. Stop shit-talking it, this is how progress is made.
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The first car sucked. The first bicycle sucked. It's a goddamn proof of concept, people. Stop shit-talking it, this is how progress is made.
The first solar aircraft was built in 1974. [wikipedia.org] This is hardly the first. By 1981, a solar powered aircraft flew 163 miles. [wikipedia.org] The fact it took 31 years to increase the range by a factor of ~3 is piss poor IMHO.
Wake me when it circumnavigates the globe without stopping. [wikipedia.org] Then I'll be impressed.
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The first car sucked. The first bicycle sucked. It's a goddamn proof of concept, people. Stop shit-talking it, this is how progress is made.
The first solar aircraft was built in 1974. [wikipedia.org] This is hardly the first. By 1981, a solar powered aircraft flew 163 miles. [wikipedia.org] The fact it took 31 years to increase the range by a factor of ~3 is piss poor IMHO.
Wake me when it circumnavigates the globe without stopping. [wikipedia.org] Then I'll be impressed.
If you had read your links, you knew that the Solar Riser's solar panels needed 1.5 hours of bright sunshine, to produce enough energy to fly for 3 to 5 minutes. The Solar Impulse on the other hand, is (in theory, if the pilot would not need to sleep) able to fly non-stop. Recharging it's batteries while the sun is shining (while producing enough energy to keep flying all the time).
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Supposing they solve the remaining problems (eg. Sun going down), how will this be better than an airship (Zeppelin/Blimp)?
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The very same plane stayed in air for 24 h straight last year, to prove it could; this was covered on Slashdot. The solar panels charge its batteries and power its flight at the same time.
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what happens on rainy days???
Its flight went over 27,000 feet, which is higher than average rain clouds (wiki says around 20,000 feet is typical). It may be able to just fly over the rainclouds. They'll still need to drive around the big storms, just like the big jets have to.
Cool but... (Score:2, Insightful)
So all the people seeing this as progress, realize that in 30+ years solar panels have not improved significantly enough to be able to generate the kind of power required to move 2 people, let alone 100 or 300.
This is a nice novelty, but does not harken a new era in solar power flight until there is some fundamental improvements in solar power technology.
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30 years ago it took about 2 hours of shine to get the world's first solar airplane to have enough power to fly for 3-5 minutes.
This thing can fly during night on charge it accumulates during the day while in the air.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_aircraft#Solar_Riser [wikipedia.org]
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Yeah, I was a little surprised at the claim that this was the first solar powered plane.
My memory was of the Gossamer Penguin / Solar Challenger.
But yours is even earlier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Challenger [wikipedia.org]
24 comments (Score:1)
Coming to Skies Near You! - For Safety (Or Else)! (Score:1)
Now I can feel safe!
Good Lord (Score:1)
They flew an airplane 515 miles using nothing but the sun. They flew. Not drove, not sailed, not floated. It's impressive. Dead impressive. It's a vision of the world that could be.
I consign those who pooh-pooh this to go back and try to do something equally impressive without fossil fuels or equal cheats.
Circumnavigation is another ballgame (Score:1)
However, SolarImpulse is shooting for an eventual round-the-world, non-stop flight. They're even designing a new plane:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Impulse#Planned_second_aircraft_.28HB-SIB.29 [wikipedia.org]
There's some major logistical challenges to go along with the technical challenges:
1) They need at least two pilots to spell each other (which means more weight)
2) The new plane would have to go faster - at 70kph, flying 40,000 km would take 24 days
3)